LITTLE SILVER – Six senior commercial art majors from the Red Bank Regional (RBR) Visual and Performing Arts Academy created a giant lasting visual legacy that all visitors to the RBR media center can enjoy.
Within the blank pages of a book supporting the earth, the mural is emblazoned with the quote: “We may sit in our library, and yet be in all quarters of the earth,” from Sir John Lubbock.
The girls, Jade Saybolt, Shrewsbury; Tatjana Farley, Neptune City; and Little Silver residents Emily Stafford, Kelly McAdam, Terrill Warrenburg and Beth Keenan, signed their handiwork.
Some of the images depicted are the Roman Coliseum, the Egyptian Pyramids, Russian Matryoshka dolls, the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower and Lubbock’s Big Ben. Observers are challenged to find RBR’s own Buccaneer mascot hiding within the design.
A second mural became an abstract floral image interweaving the quote, “If we do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when we are old,” by Lord Chesterfield.
RBR’s Media Center Specialist Kathy Smith felt the commercial art majors wonderfully interpreted the meaning of the quotes. “They really did a good job of capturing what the media center has come to embody, especially with technology and access to all corners of the world,” Smith said. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to have these two murals. They will really beautify the space.”
The larger mural will become the focal point of the commanding two-story room and will be visible upon entrance to the media center. The second piece will rest like a crown over the Mac lab, recently donated by the RBR Education Foundation.
RBR’s commercial art teacher Claudia O’Connor began the tradition of assigning her students’ senior project as lasting murals that decorate and depict their school. Students work individually to create their own artistic interpretation of the quote, then combine their best efforts in a team exercise to create the finished product. The Class of 2012 contributed No. 9 and 10 of giant murals that are located throughout the building in the departments and subject areas they represent.
“It is our goal each year to continue to tell a visual story upon our schools walls of the wonderful learning and creativity that takes place within our school walls,” O’Connor said.
